Portable railroad



2 SHEETSSHEET l- Patented Dec. 14, 1920.

PORTABLE RAILROAD. APPLICATION FILED DEC-26.191]. RENEWED OCT. 23, 1920.

F. S. REISENBERG.

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PORTABLE RMLROAD.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-26, 1917. RENEWED 001. 2a, 1920.

1,362,141, Patented Dec.1 1,1920

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS SERAPH REISENBERG, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF T0JAMES L. SHARKEY, 0F HAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA.

PORTABLE RAILROAD.

Application filedDecember 26, 1917, Serial no. 208,736.

To aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANoIs SERAPHRnrsnnnnae, a citlzen of the United States,

residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have made acertain new and useful Invention in Portable Railroads, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to rail or railway systems.

The object of the invention is to provide a railway system which may bequickly and easily set up and taken down or bodily shifted shortdistances without disassembling the construction and which comprises fewparts which may be of standard construction and which is simple instructure, efficient in operation and economical of manufacture.

A further object of the invention is to provide a portable railwaysystem.

A further object of the invention is to provide a railway system, whichis light, but at the same time durable and strong.

A. further object of the invention is to provide a railway system whichmay be set up without preliminarily forming a railway bed.

A further bject of the invention is to provide a railway system whichmay be readily set up with a level travel over rough or un leveledareas.

A further object of the invention is to provide a railway system whichaffords adjustment to maintain the rails thereof in a level plane.

Further objects of the invention will appear more fullyhereinafter.

The invention consists substantially in the construction, combination,location and relative arrangement of parts, all as will be more fullyhereinafter set forth as shown by the accompanying drawing and finallypointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a section of a railway systemembodying my invention, showing the same applied to an uneven road bed.

Fig. 2 is a view in end elevation of a section of the same.

Fig. 3 is a detail view showing the main wheel and rail arrangement.

Fig. 1 is a similar view showing an auxiliary wheel and railarrangement.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 14, 1920. Renewed October 23, 1920. Serial No. 419,128.

F 5 shows a modified arrangement of carrier.

Fig. 6 shows a still further modified construction of carrier embodyingmy invention.

The same part is designated by the same reference character wherever itoccurs throughout the several views.

It is among the special purposes of my present invention to provide alight, cheap, strong, durable, portable railway system employing partsof standard construction, which may be readily set up over the naturalearth surface without the necessity of a prepared road bed and which maybe adjusted in a quick, simple, efficient and economical manner tmaintain the carrier rail thereof in a level plane at all timesirrespective of the natural formations of the earth surface. In carryingout my invention I employ a plurality of supports each formed by asubstantially U or V shaped member, the legs of which are adjustable inlength and are pivotally supported by what I will term the supportingfoot structure. A main and a plurality of auxiliary rails are carried bythis inverted support and they in turn carry the carrier structure ofany desired shape, size or material.

Referring to the drawing, I show indicated at 1 the support which in theform shown is substantially V shaped and which I prefer to make of asingle casting of the desired size and shape, according to the strengthrequired, and which in turn depends upon the weight to be carried by therailway system. It is therefore understood that my invention in itsbroad scope is not to be limited or restricted to any particular size,shape, or material of the elements hereinbefore or hereinafterdescribed. For example, the'support 1 need not be of the identicalshape, size or proportion employed as the structure shown in the drawingis solely for the purpose of illustration of the principle involved. Thelegs of the sup port 1 are each provided with an auxiliary leg 2 whichis adjustable relative to the su port 1 in any desired or suitablemanner as illustrative of the principle involved. but to which I do notdesire to be limited or restricted. I provide cooperating teeth on theabutting edges of the support 1 and the legs 2 and hold the two membersin engagingrelation relative to each other by any downwardly as may bedesired and as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

It is of course apparent that by employing an auxiliary leg 2 ofincreased length, the amount of adjustment thus allowed would beproportionately increased. The lower end of each leg 2 is pivotally heldbetween ears 6 by means of pin 7, the ear 6 being formed as part of acasting 8 pivotally held by the pin 9 between ears 10 of the foot 11.Carried at the top of the inverted support 1 is a rail rest 12 which issecured in any suitable manner, for example, by means of the bolts 13and upon which rests are carried the rails 14:. Likewise, on the outerinclined surface of the support 1 and on each side thereof is provided arail rest 15 to which rests are suitably secured the auxiliary rails 16.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a simple, cheapand efficient rail support structure which can be quickly erected in themanner which will now be described.

The first supporting structure will be set up with the feet 11 on theground and due to the pivotal connection between the foot 11 and thepivotal connection between the casting 8 and the leg 2 it makes littleor no difference if the ground is level or not as shown best in Fig. 1.Likewise due to the adjusting feature between the support 1 and the leg2, it makes practically no differ ence what the difference between thelevels of the respective legs may be. In other words, irrespective ofthe formation of the earth surface, the top of the inverted support 1may be maintained in a horizontal plane.

Any number of supports may be employed according to the desired lengthof the railway system, likewise they may be positioned'at any desireddistance apart.

For illustrative purposes, say a ten-foot rail is employed, in whichcase the supports would be positioned approximately 10 feet apart withthe end of one rail secured in the rail rest on the top of the invertedsupport 1 and the end of the next succeeding rail abutting thereagainstand likewise secured in the rail rest at the top of the invertedsupport 1. However, in effect a suspended rail system is thus securedwith a support for the rail proportioned throughout the length of therailway system in approximately equal distances. It is obvious of coursethat the size and strength of the supports em ployed and the distancebetween supports may be readily varied in accordance with the maximumweights which are to be carried by the railway system and my inventionin its broad scope is not to be restricted or limited in any of thesedetails.

Any size, shape, or character of carrier may be employed on the railwaysystem, thus erected, and while I have shown and will now describeseveral carrier structures which form part of my invention I wish it tobe understood that I am not to be limited or restricted to any specificstructure or arrangement of carrier. As illustrative of the principlesinvolved, I show in Figs. 1 and 2 a carrier structure comprising a frame20 carrying an axle 21 on which is mounted a wheel 22with springs 23interposed between the axle and the frame 20. It is preferable, thoughnot necessary that the wheel 22 be of the grooved type to fit over therail 14; forming a part of or secured to the frame 20 are hollowcarriers 25, in which the material to be transported may be placed. Theunder surface of the carriers 25 is secured theretov in any desirablemanner by means of the flanges 26, a wheel axle 28 on which is mounted awheel 27 likewise preferably, though not necessarily, of the groovedtype to fit over the auxiliary rail 16. The end of the frame 20 maycarry eyes 29 to form attaching means for any desired purpose, forexample, a train of carriers may be employed and the source of motivepower may be attached thereto.

As above stated, I do not desire to be restricted to any particular formof carrier as many changes in the details of construction thereof willreadily occur to those skilled in the art without departing from thespirit and scope of my invention. For example, the carrier 25 may be adetachable bag or receptacle arrangement, as shown at 30, in Fig. 5, inwhich instance, a frame 31, which carries the auxiliary wheel structure27 also forms a rest for the receptacle 30. Likewise, and as shown inFig. 6, a platform 32 may be employed in preference to a receptacle, inwhich case reinforcing supports 33 may be connected between the platform32 and the portion of the frame which carries the auxiliary wheel 27.

Any form of motive power may be em ployed with the railway system abovedescribed, for example, steam or electric locomotives may be employed,if desired, or a team of horses, or mules, may be used or man power maybe utilized for this purpose, and my invention is not to be restrictedto any particular motive power employed.

The uses for a railway system embodying the invention here involved arepractically unlimited and are too numerous to tabulate as the system maybe employed in any instance where a quickly installed railway system isdesired, which will permit the transportationof material or passengersover uneven ground, such as farm lands or natural uneven and rocky earthsurface, without the necessity of preparing a road bed.

Having now set forth the objects and nature of my invention, what Iclaim as new and useful and of my own invention and desire to secure byLetters Patent is 1. A portable railway system comprising a plurality ofuniversally adjustable supports each including a pair of legs, andmeansfor supporting a rail upon said supports at a point intermediatesaid legs.

2. A portable railway system comprising a plurality of supports eachincluding a pair of legs, means for supporting a rail at its ends uponsaid supports at a point intermediate said legs and means forindependently adjusting said legs to maintain said rail in a constantplane.

3. A a plurality of supports each including a pair of legs, means forsupporting at their ends a plurality of rails upon said supports at apoint intermediate said legs, and means for independently adjusting saidlegs to maintain said rails in a constant plane.

l. In a portable railway system a rail rest, a unitary support for saidrail rest comprising a plurality of supporting legs and means'forindividually adjusting said supporting legs, to maintain said rail restin a horizontal position.

5. In a portable railway system a rail rest, an inverted' substantiallyV-shaped support for said rail rest, each leg to which being adapted tolie on the surface of the earth and means for individually adjust ingthe length of said legs.

6. In a portable railway system, a rail rest, a support for said. railrest comprising a plurality of supporting legs, means for individuallyadjusting the length of said legs, a foot for each of said legs,pivotally secured thereto to allow a simultaneous pivotal movement ofsaid support in reaching an adjusted position.

7. In a portable railway system a rail rest, a unitary supportingstructure for said rail rest including a plurality of supporting legsprovided with a common supporting portable railway system comprisingsurface and means for individually adjusting said supporting legs, tomaintain said rail rest in a horizontal position, and means for lockingsaid legs in their adjusted po sition.

8. In a portable railway system a rail rest, an inverted substantiallyll-shaped support for said rail rest, each leg to which being adapted tolie on the surface of the earth, and means for individually adjustingthe length of said legs, and means for locking said legs in theiradjusted position.

9. In a portable railway system, a rail rest, a support for said railrest comprising a plurality of supporting legs, means for individuallyadjusting the length of said legs, and a foot pivotally connected toeach of said legs to allow pivotal movement in two directions andadapted to rest on the earths surface to afford a foundation for saidsupport.

10. In a portable railway system, a rail rest, a support for said railrest, adjustable legs for said support and an auxiliary rail restcarried by each of said legs on opposite sides of said main rail rest.

11. A rail support comprising an inverted substantially V-shaped memberprovided with a rail rest at the top thereof, auxiliary legs adjustablysecured to the legs thereof, a foot pivotally carried by each of saidlegs, and a base pivotally carried by each of said feet.

12. A railway system adapted to be erected on the surface of the earthwithout forming a leveled road bed thereon comprising a plurality ofrail supporting members each provided with a pair of angularly disposedlegs, and means for individually adjusting said legs to maintain therail in a substantially horizontal plane.

13. A railway system adapted to be erected on the surface of the earthwithout forming a leveled road bed thereon comprising a plurality ofrail supporting members each provided with a pair of angularly disposedlegs, said members being located at substantially equal distances apart,and means for individually adjusting said legs to maintain the railsuspended between said supports in a level plane.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand on this 19th day ofDecember, A. D. 1917.

FRANCIS SERAPH REISENBERG.

